Bar groups set schedules for Supreme Court candidates

Gov. Tim Kaine apparently hopes the process for confirming Supreme Court Justice Barbara Milano Keenan for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will move faster than the one for the only other candidate President Obama has nominated for a 4th Circuit seat.

Kaine has asked those interested in replacing Keenan to submit information to his counsel, Mark Rubin, by the end of the month. Details on how to do that are here.

The governor also has asked statewide bar groups to evaluate candidates, and they have asked the candidates to submit information to them by Sept. 28.

The bar groups and the governor are asking those candidates who went through the process before the appointments of Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn and LeRoy F. Millette Jr. to advise them only of their continued interest in a Supreme Court seat.

The groups generally want a resume, a judicial evaluation form available from the Virginia State Bar or on the governor’s Web site and a brief writing sample. They would prefer the information in electronic Word format.

Virginia Women’s Attorneys Association, Chandra D. Lantz, clantz@hf-law.com. The association expects to coordinate interviews with the VSB on Oct. 12. The VWAA has a questionnaire of its own available from Lantz.

President Obama nominated Keenan earlier this month. He had nominated U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis earlier in the year, but no action has occurred since the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed him in June.